Wellness is for well people. It’s a phrase uttered by artist, writer and brand consultant Sue Williamson who at one point was a major participant in the wellness industry prior to her breast cancer diagnosis.
“I covered wellness trends as an editor, did all the fancy workouts, and took all the supplements,” she said. “When I got my breast cancer diagnosis, it felt like all those ‘wellness’ industry doors suddenly slammed in my face. For example, I had a few lymph nodes removed and needed a little extra help with my lymph system. I called four of the trendy lymphatic drainage specialists in Los Angeles and they all said they couldn’t help people who had issues with their lymph system. Over and over during my illness, the wellness industry told me that it was not for me.”
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Akilah Cadet, founder and chief executive officer of Change Cadet, who lives with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare connective tissue disorder, feels similarly when it comes to wellness. “Hearing wellness is for well people is why I can’t get that [wellness-oriented] appointment,” Cadet said. “Wellness can be for disabled people. Wellness can be for depressed people. But if you exclude us from the conversation, it seems as if we are not deserving with the limitations we may have mentally or physically.”
And Courtney Rabb, rare disease patient advocate and blogger of A Rare Normal, who suffers from a mast cell disease, also doesn’t feel as if her life involves real wellness. “Everything that I do revolves around medication or integrative medicine to get me toward long-term healing and make my day-to-day more comfortable,” she said. “For example, it took me a long time to find an open-minded practitioner who would practice acupressure and not acupuncture because they didn’t understand that acupuncture would be too much for my system. They told me acupressure wouldn’t do anything.”
According to The Global Wellness Institute, in 2017, the wellness economy was estimated at $4.5 trillion, representing roughly 5.6 percent of global economic output.
Meanwhile, Trendalytics reported that wellness is experiencing steady growth with 206,000 average weekly searches, up 29 percent to last year. But the majority of wellness brands speak to customers with privilege or those who are already “well.” And while the end goal is to improve one’s health, they aren’t targeting a community of people who suffer from chronic illness or disease.
“For folks with chronic illness, wellness doesn’t address them because it often addresses the healthiest of people,” said Dr. Tracy George, president and chief medical officer at ARUP Laboratories and a professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “There are people living with significant disabilities due to illness and they can’t partake in these creams or supplements or whatever else is out there. Even things as simple as soap or hand lotion. The products are not manufactured with them in mind.”
Vulvovaginal line, Momotaro Apotheca, addresses acute infections all done through vitro studies of the specific ingredients. And inclusion for the brand is top of mind when marketing to the consumer. In its brand imagery and campaigns, Momotaro Apotheca includes sex workers, disabled individuals and a range of body types. “We need to be creating an industry, especially from within, that is supportive and creates hope and a better future for all people, be it the well or unwell,” said Lindsay Wynn, cofounder and CEO of Momotaro Apotheca. “That’s something that we’re really trying to do. There’s a lot of fear in inclusion. Fear people are going to do it wrong, so they don’t even address it.”
Momotaro Apotheca is keen on showing that representation from all angles is important. For example, the brand went into sex education centers and created new pamphlets around STI awareness. “What you see in these spaces, whether it’s with cancer patients or STI positive folks, HIV and AIDS, is a person with their head in their hands feeling shameful and that creates a narrative that perpetuates stigma and stress and further exacerbates a condition.”
To that end, Cadet mentioned the Bump’n Joystick, $249, as an example of a brand including more people in the wellness conversation. The Joystick is a hands-free sex toy designed by sexual health experts, industrial designers, occupational therapists and the disabled community to suit the needs of those living with disabilities or pain, immobility, lack of dexterity, muscle weakness and hand limitations. “There’s an assumption that people with disabilities can’t have sex,” she said. “That they don’t want to have sex, that they aren’t sexual beings. They’re still human beings and sex is a wonderful way for people to boost endorphins, reduce pain, feel love and feel supported, whether they’re doing it with themselves or with a partner.”
While Guide Beauty is a makeup collection, the same is true in the cosmetics category, where people with disabilities and chronic illnesses are not part of the conversation. Makeup artist and beauty educator Terri Bryant created Guide Beauty in 2020 after discovering she had Parkinson’s and her technique and precision was challenged by her diagnosis. She set out to launch a makeup range created in conjunction with design and ergonomic experts to craft proprietary and innovative tools that literally guide your hand. “With my diagnosis, I felt like I was told I wasn’t welcome [in the makeup industry],” Bryant said. “I was told initially, ‘This happened to you. Now you have Parkinson’s, so you can’t use what you used.’”
In June, Guide Beauty announced actress Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018, will be the brand’s chief creative officer. Together with Bryant, they have launched a brush collection with the brand’s patented Guide Ring for better control and an eye shadow palette. “Everyone’s a makeup artist now and it can be very overwhelming for anyone, not just someone that has some motor issues,” Blair said. “I know for myself, when I was not looking at my pale, bloated Prednisone face and didn’t want to deal, putting on makeup made me feel loved. When I talked to Terri and started using this, it brought some of my confidence back that I wouldn’t injure myself while I was applying makeup. The difference it’s making is hugely important — to include whoever wants to be included.”
“It’s not an all or nothing type of situation that if you’re sick, you don’t need anything wellness-oriented,” said Dr. Hemalee Patel, DO, who practices internal medicine in San Francisco, California. “Patients still want to feel their best at all times. The placement of some of these products can be really helpful in elevating an ill individual’s outlook. A lot of these things in terms of outcome is mind over matter. So if you’re feeling your best in all situations, you always get better results, no matter what.”
Patel noted that Seed has done an exceptional job from an education and efficacy standpoint on its signature product, DS-01 Daily Synbiotic. “The most important part of defining wellness and health for us is resilience,” said Ara Katz, cofounder and co-CEO of Seed Health. “The notion that a body or an ecosystem will never experience stress or sickness is unrealistic, no matter how many celery juices you drink. We spend a lot of our time communicating and educating around the microbiome, around the science of probiotics, what they are and what they’re not. When people understand a fundamental why of something, it sticks with them and resonates and can then inform lots of other choices.”
Meanwhile, George believes creating wellness products for chronically ill individuals and including them in the conversation is an untapped market. “Folks that are producing wellness products need to look at who they’re trying to reach,” she said. “For patients who have mass cell activation syndrome, imagine if you manufactured products that they could use that were additive and fragrance-free. There are many people who have some sort of allergy who could really benefit from products like that.”
Cadet added, “It’s important that these brands, people, companies and influencers take the time to understand that words are powerful and the language that they’re using needs to be examined to make sure it’s inclusive of intersectionality. If that doesn’t happen, it will further support the people who are already fine, who don’t actually need support.”